Library Loot: April 11 – 17

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire fromThe Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Oh April. Even if I didn’t have a calendar, I’d know exactly what month we are in. It is suddenly sunny and even vaguely warm outside and today the NHL playoffs begin. It is a fine month but not one conducive to reading: I get so overwhelmed, especially the first couple of weeks, by all the options suddenly at hand. After months spent reading through short, dark days and long, dark nights, I tend to abandon my books a little at the beginning of spring to enjoy the welcome signs of the season. Every blossoming cherry or plum tree makes me a little giddy and for a brief moment I’m even fond of the demonic birds that wake me with their chirping at five o’clock in the morning (that phase passes more quickly than the others). But I think I’m just about adjusted and, with that hope, I brought home some new reading material, even though I’ve still got most of my books left from the last few weeks.

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić – I love the Canongate myth series and this has been on my To-Read list ever since it came out. Eva read and loved it last year, which is always a good sign. It also counts towards the Eastern European Reading Challenge and, as I’ve only read two books for that so far (I want to do 12 by end of the year), that can only be a good thing!

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym – Rachel wrote a wonderful review of Excellent Women earlier this week so I was thrilled when I saw this on the shelf during my library visit on Tuesday. I have been meaning to read it for a few years now, having been told that it would be the book to finally turn me into a Pym fan (our previous encounters did not leave me particularly impressed).

A Little Folly by Jude Morgan – I am ridiculously attached to this Regency-era novel and I think I actually read it twice last year (and managed to avoid reviewing it both times). I described it last year as: “Perfect for those moments when you want a light, witty Regency tale but wish for something a little calmer than a hijiinks-filled Heyer novel.”

Through the Language Glass by Guy Deutscher – subtitled “Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages”, I really know nothing about this book other than that Stephen Fry called it “jaw-droppingly wonderful.”

The debate is ages old: Where does language come from? Is it an artifact of our culture or written in our very DNA? In recent years, the leading linguists have seemingly settled the issue: all languages are fundamentally the same and the particular language we speak does not shape our thinking in any significant way. Guy Deutscher says they’re wrong. From Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the Amazon, and through a strange and dazzling history of the color blue, Deutscher argues that our mother tongues do indeed shape our experiences of the world.

Empire of the Beetle by Andrew Nikiforuk – subtitled “How Human Folly and a Tiny Bug Are Killing North America’s Great Forests”, I think this might qualify as ‘regional interest’. It was a huge book here last year and no wonder, given how the mountain pine beetle has devastated our forests over the last few decades (by 2013, they are expected to have wiped out around 80% of B.C.’s pine forests).

Young Herriot by John Lewis-Stempel – I have a healthy fear of BBC’s television tie-in books but I could not resist this biography, looking at Alf Wight’s (better known by his pen name of James Herriot) youth and experiences at veterinary college.

Happy reading, I didn’t know there was a young Mr Herriot book. I loved all of his books and t.v. series esp the earlier ones. I even met the man and he autographed a book for me. Love the country, Yorkshire, the dales and moors, the animals, the people in the villages. Hope you enjoy this book about him. thanks for sharing, Pam

Hi Pam, how exciting that you’ve joined us! As for the Mr Linky, your link shows up so that’s working fine but, going forward, it would be nice if you could link to your specific Library Loot post for that week rather than the blog in general.

I just looked for the Jude Morgan in our library’s online catalog because I loved the way you described it (I need books exactly like that sometimes). It’s not there, although they have others of hers, but it looks like she wrote ‘regency mysteries’ under the name Hannah Morgan. Cool!

I picked up The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs this week. I have no clue what it’s about, but I’ve heard good things about Alexander McCall Smith, and this short novel would definitely be nominated for best title of the century. 🙂

It is delightful! Morgan has also written historical fiction based on famous, real life writers (the Brontë sisters, a few Romantic poets, and, most recently, William Shakespeare) but I love his Regency romances.

I love von Igelfeld (hero of The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs) so really hope you enjoy your first encounter with him!

I’ll definitely be looking for more Jude Morgan after loving his (?) book on the Brontë sisters. I’ll note this title down for future reference. I own Excellent Women, but have not read it yet. I know many love that book, so I’m looking forward to reading it someday. Hopefully, it will be to your taste.

James Herriot was a pen name? I never knew that! I remember reading and rereading his books when I was younger. And oh I so feel the need to go read them again!Through the Language Glass sounds like an excellent book. And so does his previous book, The unfolding of language : an evolutionary tour of mankind’s greatest invention, both of which I definitely will have to go check out of the library soon!

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg is on my to-read list as well. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it. I love reading about languages and linguistics so Through the Language Glass is going onto my to-read list immediately.